APP Audioguide Besalú

Puente de Besalua

This bridge is the gateway to Besalú and is about 105 meters long and 30 meters high. For us it is one of the most beautiful bridges we have found in Spain and it can be seen from different viewpoints or from the C-66 road.

Once we have crossed the bridge, we enter the old Jewish quarter after crossing a large gate with two impressive towers, which lead us through cobbled streets. The main streets that we recommend visiting are Pont Vell, Abat Oliva, Rocafort and Comte Tallaferro. In Rocafort street we find something very curious, sculptures of chairs that were made by artists from Girona and Italy in 1994. In any of these streets we find beautiful corners such as arches, doors or old wells of the Jewish inhabitants who lived in this part. from Besalu. Going up Portalet street there are some houses with inscriptions and mezuzà, which were holes next to the doors where a scroll with verses from the Torah was kept.

miqve is a ritual bath used for the purification of men and women within Judaism. The one in Besalú is a small 5×4 meter chamber where the pool was to perform rituals in certain circumstances such as after childbirth, menstruation, before Sabath and Yom Kippur for religious men. It was found by chance in an excavation; It is the first building of these characteristics that has been found in Spain and the third in importance of the ten existing in Europe. It is located under the remains of what was the old Synagogue, from 1264, and the only way to see it is with a guided tour.